Film: The Terrorist
Director: PC Shekar
Cast: Ragini Dwivedi, Samiksha, Ravi Bhat and Pushkar Maillikarjunaiah
Rating: 3/5
Making a film on terrorism is a mammoth task, but PC Shekar manages to skillfully put forth this subject with The Terrorist. In a refreshing twist, the heroine (Ragini Dwivedi) shoulders the entire film. The plot revolves around Reshma (Ragini), a Muslim, who has lost her parents and brother. She joins hands with a
terrorist group and helps them place bombs in three city hotspots: A bus station, crowded market and Metro station. Before you write her off as a negative character, you learn that Reshma gets involved only because her sister Asma remains in the group’s custody. What follows then is a gripping performance bringing forth her conflict as she tries to be a responsible citizen and prevent violence and bloodshed. Will she succeed? You’ll have to watch it to find out.
While the episodes take place between 9 am and 5 pm, the film takes us back and forth through flashbacks from some years ago. The film’s story has been penned by Shekar and his research is evident. Reflecting on terrorism can always get tricky, purely because of the number of people it affects. It only gets dicier when politics is thrown into the mix as well.
Converting it to a film on the big screen, however, does ease out the conversation. Ragini stands out in all shades of her character. She handles the various emotions of fear and pain to a T and breathes life into Reshma’s role. She joins in most theatre artistes, who also excel in their roles: Manu Hegde, Krishna Hebbale, Samiksha, Ravi Bhat and Pushkar Mallikarjunaiah, among others.
Music director Pradeep Varma’s background score lifts the film beautifully. Despite the heavy topic, the film doesn’t shy away from using colourful hues and leaves you with some food for thought about terrorism. Plus points to newcomer Sachin SG Holagund for the film’s dialogues. The Terrorist adds a human and innocent angle to a highly debated topic and makes it a one time watch.